Photos: World’s Largest Jack-Up Rig – Maersk Interceptor
Maersk Interceptor, the world’s largest jack-up rig, has arrived in Norway. She received her name at an official ceremony in Mekjarvik on the 29th of October and will soon be headed to her final location in the North Sea.
In a ceremony held at GMC Marine Partners yard in Mekjarvik in Norway, Mrs. Anita Utseth, Senior Vice President in Det norske oljeselskab ASA (Det norske) had the honour of naming the ultra harsh environment jack-up rig Maersk Interceptor.
Maersk Interceptor is the second in a series of four ultra harsh environment jack-up rigs to enter Maersk Drilling’s fleet. The four jack-up rigs represent a total investment of USD 2.6bn.
Maersk Interceptor will commence a five year firm contract with Det norske for drilling the Ivar Aasen field in the Norwegian North Sea in December 2014. The contract includes two one-year options. The estimated contract value for the firm contract is USD 700 million.
“With the naming of the Maersk Interceptor, we are taking the next step in Maersk Drilling’s Norwegian history. Maersk Drilling entered Norway in 1990, because we saw a window of opportunity to provide competitive offers to oil companies with our jack-up technology. With the contract for Maersk Interceptor, we look forward to work closely together with Det norske and continue to grow and leverage our market leading position in Norway,” says Claus V. Hemmingsen, CEO of Maersk Drilling and member of the Executive Board of the Maersk Group.
The first two jack-up rigs, the Maersk Intrepid and the Maersk Interceptor, have been delivered from the Keppel FELS shipyard. The third will be delivered from Keppel FELS in 2015, and the fourth will be delivered from the Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) shipyard in South Korea in 2016. All four have secured long term contracts with prime customers
Checkout some amazing pics of this monstrous jack-up rig:
Facts about the new ultra harsh environment XL Enhanced jack-ups from Maersk Drilling
With a leg length of 206.8 m (678 ft.) the rigs are the world’s largest jack-up rigs and are designed for year-round operation in the North Sea, in water depths up to 150 m (492 ft.). Uptime and drilling efficiency is maximized through dual pipe handling. While one string is working in the well bore, a second string of e.g. casing, drill pipe or bottom hole assembly can be assembled/disassembled and stored in the setback area, ready for subsequent transfer for use in the well bore thus reducing the non-productive time. The drill floor features Multi Machine Control – a fully remote operated pipe handling system allowing all standard operations such as stand building and tripping to be conducted without personnel on the drill floor thus ensuring a high level of consistency across crews and improved efficiency. Get more info here.
References: Press Release -maerskdrilling
